Ch. 4
I'm gonna get ya, I'm gonna get ya,
Look out boy, 'cause I'm gonna get ya…
-I'm gonna make you love me, Diana Ross & The Temptations
"What does he think he's DOING?"
Avery shrugged. "It looks to me as if he's taking over."
Rubbeus snarled and disappeared. Avery blinked. "Hey, Wait up!" she yelled, following him.
Rubbeus appeared behind Dais, where he was standing watching everything from a viewscreen.
There was indeed no doubt about Rubbeus' anger. And if there was, it was erased when Rubbeus aimed a blast of energy at Dais' back.
Dais didn't even turn, but the energy dissipated long before it would have reached him.
"Don't push me," he said softly, dangerously. "This is my home turf, you cannot beat me here."
Rubbeus let out a low, threatening growl. "This was my plan," he said, also very softly. "You hear me? Mine. This was supposed to be my victory."
Dais turned a bit to look at him. "Well, as they say, all's fair in love, war, and pocket monsters battles."
Rubbeus snarled again and geared up for an even bigger blast, but Avery held him back.
"Rubbeus, who cares if it was you or Dais? We'll all be rewarded when this is over, so let him take over if he wants to."
Rubbeus looked a moment at Avery, sighed and nodded. He threw one last dangerous look at Dais before departing. Avery lingered a second.
"I hope you know what you're doing."
Dais smiled a little. He didn't mind it when his sisters-in-law criticized him. Well, with the possible exception of Katzie.
"I know exactly what I'm doing," he said softly, but this time the voice was friendly. "By the time I'm done, there will be no way for them to get out at all."
"Fire…"
"World…"
Kale was quicker than Uranus and Mars. "Black Lightning Strike!" He yelled, cutting them both off and sending hem both hurtling back into a wall.
Sailor Jupiter grit her teeth.
"Jupiter! Oak Evolution!"
Kale dodged and aimed a swift kick at Jupiter, which was right on target. The metal boot collided with her stomach and Jupiter went down.
Seiji gasped. He knew he had to help them, but he didn't dare leave Minako. He shook her desperately, trying to awaken her. He looked up as Ryo tried to hold Kale off, but the enraged warlord proved too much and Ryo went down too.
Sailor Mercury gathered her strength. "Shine Aqua-"
"Black Lightning Strike!"
Seiji winced as Sailor Mercury hit the ground. This threw Touma into a frenzy. He began shooting off arrows at a phenomenal rate, but in the end he too was felled.
Which left only Minako and Seiji cowering in a corner. Kale, however, didn't seem to see them.
"That still leaves one Ronin and Senshi…"
Kale grinned, and began to taunt his counterpart that he couldn't see yet knew was there.
"What's the matter, Seiji? Are you too much of a coward to come out and face me like a man? Oh, I get it. You're trying to protect Minako."
He laughed. "How noble. Yet it won't do you any good as you'll be dead, and Minako part of my harem."
Seiji grit his teeth. He was tempted to say something to the effect of he wondered how Katzie would take that, but his survival depended on his silence. Kale shrugged.
"Not that I care if you don't come out. You can spend the rest of your miserable little life in whatever corner you're cowering. But Lord Talpa wants your armor."
Dais appeared, not in armor. Seiji ducked his head in closer to the wall and held the unconscious Sailor Venus tight.
"Forget about Seiji for now. We've got four out of five, and that's plenty, counting the senshi."
Kale nodded. "Is Sailor Moon ready yet?"
Dais shook his head. "Almost. The chibi baka (little fool.) should be ready soon."
Kale chuckled. "And the rest of the Senshi soon along with her. Uranus wanted to be with Neptune so bad."
Seiji closed his eyes, trying to shut out their conversation. He knew he shouldn't do what he was about to. If he lost, he'd would not only have sacrificed his own neck, but Minako's as well. Still, they weren't leaving him much of a choice.
"Here I am!" he yelled, stepping out of hiding. Kale turned and laughed.
"Well. The coward finally showed. And not a moment too soon, we were about to leave your sorry butt."
Seiji drew his sword and grit his teeth. "Just fight," he growled.
"We only wish to help you…"
No! She fought back for all she was worth. The enemy wished only to help themselves! They just wanted to use her!
She had gone through too much to let them brainwash her now.
"Resistance is futile," the soothing voice said, sounding a little too much like the Borg for this author's tastes. "You will not be harmed, and we will win in the end. Join us and be happy."
Michiru fought the voice with her sheer will, trying desperately not to succumb.
She wasn't totally unaware of what was going on outside either. When something loud happened-as when someone was yelling or talking right over her-she heard it. Now something sent a chill down her spine.
"She's almost ready," she heard a male voice say above her. Who was almost ready? Certainly not her, she still had her free will intact.
"Good," she heard a much deeper voice say-one that could only belong to Sekhmet. "With Black Lady on our side, taking control of this world will be easy. And after we do, we can say sayonara to that meddling Wiseman and, if need be, Rubbeus."
"What about this one?" The other voice said, one she now knew to be Anubis.
She could almost see Sekhmet shrug. "Leave her be. She and Usagi aren't ready yet, but that's okay. We have all the time in the world. We'll wear them down yet."
Michiru would have sat up and shown them a thing or two if she could She knew that she couldn't be worn down so easily, and neither could Sailor Moon. It was only a matter of time before they were rescued, and then the warlords would have a lot of trouble on their hands.
"Black Lightning Strike!"
"Thunder Bolt Cut!"
The two attacks met head on and dissipated the other.
Kale and Seiji both jumped back, each breathing heavily, almost in unison.
Dais smirked. "An even match. This ought to be more interesting than I expected."
Seiji ignored the warlord, his sole attention on the figure in black armor in front of him. He saw Dais move out of his peripheral vision and then Kale charged full at him once again. Seiji glanced off his blow, jumping above him and than raining blows down from above.
"This fight is over!" Dais suddenly yelled. Seiji and Kale both stopped and looked at him. Kale grinned, Seiji gasped.
Dais held in his arms the unconscious Sailor Venus. He materialized a dagger and held it to her throat.
"Now, Ronin. Either you surrender unconditionally or Minako will no longer have as much love to spread around. It's your choice."
Seiji looked in horror, realizing that Dais must have slipped out of Seiji's line of view to look for her.
He bit his lip and sighed, and dropped his sword to the ground. He looked up at them, defeated.
"I give up."
She woke up in an…emergency room? No, not quite, there were no nurses or anything of the sort around. It was obviously a medical facility, though. She reached for her visor…and found that her hands were tied down. She strained weakly against them, sweating profusely. She gave up and looked to her right where a defeated-looking Sailor Jupiter looked back at her with tired eyes. Sailor Mercury blinked.
"Mako-chan? Where are we?"
Sailor Jupiter sighed. "We're in the first aid room of the warlords. We've lost, Ami-chan."
Sailor Mercury's eyes went wide. "Touma?" she called out suddenly. She struggled to sit up to look for him but found she was strapped down at the chest as well. She sighed. It was such a helpless feeling, not being able to move around. She turned her head to the other side to see Sailor Uranus, her eyes closed, her face beaten and bruised.
She blinked as she heard footsteps approaching her. She looked up as Kale appeared over her with a damp cloth in hand. He tsked.
"Nasty fever you Sailor Senshi have gotten, it seems to have claimed almost every one of you."
Sailor Mercury glared in hate.
"Why do you care?" she spat. Kale blinked and then smiled. But it wasn't an evil smile.
"One, Lord Talpa wants you Senshi in good health before he converts you to our side. And two, and please don't go repeating this to Katzie, I care about you Senshi to an extent. Truth be told, you've all impressed me very much over the past few years. Even Sailor Moon. No one has ever been able to hold out for so long against us."
Sailor Mercury digested this information for a minute then said "Kale, is Touma…"
"Touma's fine, for the moment. Fortunate for you, Lord Talpa hasn't killed the Ronins yet. If they all surrender readily, Lord Talpa may even let you all continue living together."
Mercury heard Jupiter rasp beside her. "At what cost? They'd never be the men we'd grown to love. Kale, how would you feel if we captured Katzie and then turned her into an entirely different person, yet still allowed you two to live together? It-"
Sailor Jupiter cut herself off, and, much to Mercury's dismay, began coughing up blood. Kale turned from Mercury to Jupiter and quickly checked her vital signs. He sighed.
"You're hemorrhaging inside, probably from one of my blows. I'm taking you to ICU."
"No!" A voice called out. Shin? Mercury asked herself. How strong was he that he was able to call out so loud?
"If ye take her, take me too! Or leave her here with us."
Kale turned, his expression changing from that of care to that of annoyance and quickly rising anger. "Quiet, Ronin!" he said. "I can just as easily make a space for you in ICU, you know. Your girlfriend isn't going to be hurt as long as she doesn't put up any resistance. And right now, she's having a hard enough time breathing as it is."
Mercury blinked as she spied something on Kale's person. A gold chain, upon which the word "Katzie" was written in beautiful calligraphy Japanese.
"Kale," she said softly. "That's a gift from Katzie?"
Kale blinked, as if he didn't know what she was talking about. Then he smiled again and nodded. "Un. Ever since we got engaged, we've been buying each other all sorts of things."
"Engaged?"
Kale nodded. "Katzie's shopping with her sisters right now, but when she gets back, you can ask her yourself."
Mercury couldn't help smiling. For all their teasing of the Sailor Senshi's speeches, the love and justice and all that, they themselves had fallen in love and wanted to let justice rule their lives.
At least, to an extent.
She made a mental note to remind the warlords of this whenever she got the chance.
"So, what's the scoop on you and Rubbeus?" Prizma asked eagerly. Avery made a face and reached for the "Titanic" tank she'd been eyeing.
"N.O.Y.B, Prima."
Katzie grinned. "Aw, c'mon, Avery. You two are becoming awfully close lately. We just want to know if it's serious or not."
Avery sighed. "Look. I like Rubbeus. I like him a lot. But it's not to the point that any of your relationships are, alright?"
Katzie grinned. "Touchy, aren't we?"
Bertie checked her watch. "Hey, guys, how about a round at McDonald's? My treat."
Everyone agreed, even Katzie, who was nearly world renown for her ability to function on nearly one meal a month.
Bertie blinked. "Katzie, you don't usually eat this time of day. And didn't you have breakfast?"
Katzie blinked. "I did? Well, I'm hungry. Heaven knows why, I'm usually not very hungry at all. It's weird."
Bertie blinked, something clicking in her mind. Then, she smiled softly.
"Mina-ko…koko…Mina-ko…"(Beautiful Minako…where….Beautiful Minako…)
Kale sighed. It was hard enough tending to six Senshi, four of whom had developed fevers. Now he was faced with a delirious Ronin as well. Probably his fault. He was sure that those blows to the head didn't help too much.
"Kami-sama…" he muttered. "I need a vacation…"
He reached for a shelf and measured out a dose of a whitish liquid that would clear Seiji's head. He'd rather deal with curses from his enemy than pitiful delirium.
He injected the medicine, which would take a little time to work. He then turned back to Sailor Pluto, one of the worst fever victims.
"Kale."
He looked up at the soft voice from the other end of the infirmary. He walked over to Sailor Mercury, who seemed to be trying to figure something out in her mind, suggesting a slight delirium on her part as well.
"Kale, will you unstrap me please? I want to be by Touma's side."
Kale chuckled softly. "And if Lord Talpa finds out it'll be my head. Sorry, Ami-san. You'll have to stay here for now."
"But don't worry," a voice came from behind him. He turned to see Dais, also smiling kindly. "We'll take the best care of you and your teammates."
Mercury seemed perplexed a moment, almost as if she didn't recognize Dais. Then her eyes cleared for a moment and Kale could almost see the wheels turning at a superfast rate in her mind when her eyes clouded again and she looked as defeated as before.
Dais turned to Kale. "How are they doing?"
"Not well. Four of the Senshi have high fevers, Mercury included. And one of the Ronin's delirious, though I've given him something for that."
"And Tuxedo Kamen?"
"He's doing alright. A bit weak, but…"
"Good. Keep me updated."
"There's the castle!"
Piccolo sighed and set the still unconscious A-ko down on the ground, taking a moment to rest himself. Although he prided himself on his endurance and fighting ability, it wasn't easy carrying a 90 lbs bundle nearly 50 mi. He was rightfully tired.
Krillin looked up at it in awe. "Wow. I wonder where the guys are."
Vegeta knelt down and examined a mark in the ground. He sniffed it then growled softly.
"Where ever they are now, they're in captivity. This is where their fight occurred. And from the looks of it, they lost. Big time."
Yamcha's jaw hung open. "They…lost?!?"
Krillin stamped his foot. "I knew we should have gone with them. We could have helped, we could have won!"
Goku nodded. "I agree, but there's no time to think about it now. We've got to help them now."
Gohan nodded. "Yeah, well, I think we'd better get past those foot soldiers first, Dad."
Goku looked up to see several dozen foot soldiers running at them. He turned to his companions and grinned. "Power up."
She awoke with a start. Where was she? She struggled to sit up and look around before realizing that she was strapped down. She looked around frantically, looking for someone-anyone to help her. She sight she saw devastated her.
Her friends and companions, all defeated. Many of them looked sick. She heard soft talking at one end of the infirmary. She managed to identify the voices: Ami-chan and Kale. What were they talking about?
And to her other side, she heard someone babbling. It was…Seiji! Seiji was babbling like an idiot, which meant he was delirious. How had that happened? A few blows to the head might do it, she decided. She strained again against her restraints, grunting softly.
She worked at it for a few minutes until she had loosened them a little. She relaxed and sighed, resigning herself to trying to figure out a way out of this mess.
Suddenly, Kale appeared above her, tsking.
"Well, Minako-san, I see you're awake. And none to somber for the wear, either. I'm impressed."
She sighed. "What are you going to do with us?"
Kale chuckled. "Me, nothing. Lord Talpa wants you Senshi as part of his warrior class, like us. As for the Ronins…the future's not too bright for them."
"So why not just convert us now while we're weak?"
"Weak warriors do little good, I'm afraid. And four of your teammates are sick. Just you and Rei-chan are alright."
Venus raised a brow. "-Chan?"
Kale blushed. "Rei-san, of course."
Venus giggled despite herself. "Don't let Katzie-sama hear you say 'Rei-chan' or it's your head for sure."
Kale chuckled. "It's bad when a Senshi knows more about my love life than I do."
Venus had a thought and grinned. "Oh, by the way, Kale. What exactly did you do about the Earth's Special Forces?"
Kale blinked. "We sent foot soldiers after them. Why?"
"Kale," Venus said, grinning. "If we Senshi can beat the foot soldiers, and the Earth's Special Forces are so much stronger than us…"
Kale stared at her in open-mouthed horror for a moment, then disappeared. Venus grinned wider and began the process of wriggling out of her restraints.
"And who's bright idea was that?!?"
Dais flushed hotly out of embarrassment, and tried to conceal it with offence. "Well, who's bright idea was it to start this whole mess, anyway?"
"I had it under control," Rubbeus said, his anger beginning to flare. "Until someone took the reins away from me. After that, it was all downhill."
"May I remind you that we have all the Ronins and Senshi in our grasp. Helpless!"
"Little good that does when they're all sick and what's more, two super sayajins closing in on us."
Dais snorted. "Maybe if you hadn't been so focused on everything below neckline of Avery you would have-"
That did it for Rubbeus. He pulled back and punched Dais square in the jaw. Dais staggered back into a wall, clutching where he'd been hit. He frowned as he realized that he was bleeding from one corner of his mouth. Then he snarled and leapt from his place on the floor at Rubbeus, forcing him on his back.
"Now," He spat into Rubbeus' face. "Now this is for real."
Just a little more…and…there! She had it! She slipped out of her restraint and ran over to Seiji, who looked as if his head was just beginning to clear. He blinked.
"Mina-ko…Mina-ko? Where am I?"
Venus smiled. "It's alright, Seiji. You're going to be fine now." She fumbled with the straps for a moment. "I can't seem to undo the straps...Seiji, shift to the side."
Seiji did so and Venus took a deep breath. "Crescent beam!"
The beam cut through the straps, letting Seiji go. Seiji sat up wearily and held his head before looking around. "C'mon. We've got to free the others."
"Dais, honey, look what I've bought…" Bertie trailed off as she watched in horror the scene before her. The room was in ruins, blood splattered in several places on the walls.
The two men were literally at each other's throats, slugging it out the old fashioned way, although every now and then an energy blast would find it's way into the battle.
Bertie looked at her sisters before deciding to do something about the situation, quickly freezing both Rubbeus and Dais up to their necks. She walked hotly to Dais.
"Would someone like to explain?"
Dais snarled. "I'll take insults from him, but I will NEVER let him hit me and get away with it."
Avery turned angrily to Rubbeus. "You hit him?!?"
Rubbeus sneered. "The baby wasn't even hurt. He had it coming for what he said about you."
"And what did you say about her?" Bertie asked suspiciously.
Dais looked away and said nothing. Bertie nodded. "That's what I thought. I'll deal with you later."
"Well, hon, could you kinda let me go, I'm getting frostbite here."
Bertie snorted but let them both go. Katzie tsked. "Really, I thought you both were above getting into a physical fight. Now we've got to send you two to Sickbay."
"If there's any room left," Prizma added. "Remember, we've got those Senshi and Ronins in there. I'm not sure how many beds there are left."
Dais snorted. "I'll go to Sickbay myself and see if there's beds on opposite ends for me and Mr. Prettyboy over there."
Before Rubbeus could retaliate Dais was gone. But he was back almost instantly cursing.
"They're all gone!"
"Which way?"
Shou sighed. The last time he'd been in the castle was so long ago…but he was sure he remembered the way to the conversion room.
"This way," he said, heading down a long corridor. Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Pluto and Sailor Uranus weren't all fully there yet, but many of them were in good enough shape to fight if they had to. Mercury now activated her Visor.
"There's a strange energy coming from just down this corridor, I think we're close."
Shin gripped his trident tighter. "Just show us the way, Ami-chan."
Mercury walked on for a few minutes then stopped in front of a door. "Here. This is the source."
Sailor Jupiter shook her head to clear it a little and stepped forward. "Stand back," she said. "Supreme Thunder!" she yelled, blasting the door from it's frame. Shin glanced at his fiancée.
"Mako-chan, I think the door was open."
Jupiter shrugged. "So I'll buy them a new door."
Sailor Mercury and Touma had, in the meantime, ran over to the chambers.
"Sailor Moon, Chibimoon and Neptune are all here, but I don't think we have much time. We've got to get them out of there NOW."
Shou grinned. "No prob. We'll just fry this machine."
"No!" Touma said. "That could damage them. We'll have to shut it down through the system."
Mercury sat at the terminal and started going through it. "Windows based. Convenient," she murmured. Touma knelt next to her.
"You sure you're okay enough to do this?"
"Touma-chan, let me work."
Touma sighed and shrugged. He had learned a long time ago never to argue with her when she was in this condition.
"Destructo Disc!"
within seconds, more than half of the foot soldiers had been cut down to size. Piccolo nodded his approval before eliminating about seven or eight in one blow. He turned to Vegeta, who was eliminating the Dynasty agents left and right.
"I know they didn't think these things could stop us."
Vegeta shrugged before taking out another one. "Well, what're ya gonna do?"
Goku looked up for a second at the vast castle before focusing on the soldiers staring him down now. He quickly disposed of them and sighed.
"I think that's all of them."
Gohan blinked. "That was easy."
"Too easy," Yamcha said. "Something's up. We'd better get inside before we're stopped."
"Oh, it's a little late for that, human," a voice rang out. Yamcha looked up to see Katzie descending down on him at rapid speed. She grinned. "Take a powder!"
Yamcha managed to dodge most of the energy blasts, but one caught him in the back and he went sprawling.
Krillin gasped, and began to run towards Yamcha to help him, but was caught by the waist by a whip.
Avery snapped the whip back, and then up with Krillin still attached to it. She began a series of high-powered strikes at Krillin, but Krillin, more nimble than his companion, avoided them all.
Goku, meanwhile, was preoccupied with Dais and Kale, who were both giving him quite a hard time.
Vegeta looked up a moment from Sekhmet. They were in real trouble if they didn't get these guys off of their backs and fast.
She sat up groggily, and looked around. The voice in her head was gone, and she thought for a second that the warlords were standing over her to kill her. But when she looked up, she saw…
"Tuxedo Kamen-sama!"
Tuxedo Kamen leaned down and picked her up. She wasn't hurt too badly, but it was quite obvious she had been in a battle.
"Usa-ko," he whispered. "I'm so glad you're alright."
Sailor Moon smiled. "You should have known I was going to be fine."
Shou looked at the couple and smiled faintly. He remembered when he'd had his crush on Usagi. He'd been so crushed when he learned she liked Tuxedo Kamen. But, really, they belonged together. He could see that now. Usagi would always hold a special place in his heart, but he knew their relationship would never go beyond that of friendship.
He then turned his attention to Chibimoon's chamber. Apparently, she was already partly under the Dynasty's grip, and so Mercury was having a hard time releasing her. But after a few moments, the chamber gave way and Chibimoon, too, sat up groggily. She looked up.
"Shou-chan? Koko doko?" (Where am I?)
Shou smiled and picked her up. "It's alright. You're safe now, Chibiusa."
A few more adjustments and Neptune was awake as well, and a bit more alert than either Usagi had been. Uranus was at her side immediately, helping her out of the chamber.
Mercury bent over the keyboard a moment, obviously weakened from such fast work. Touma helped her stand and turned to Shou. "Any ideas how to get out?"
Shou grinned.
"I remember the conversion room was on like, the second floor, and the far wall faced the front of the castle. So…"
He sat Chibiusa down and walked over to the wall. "Iron Rock Crusher!" he yelled, totally destroying the wall.
Jupiter grinned. "I always love it when he does that."
Shin glanced at her. "You would."
Shou looked out the hole he'd just made.
"Well, I think I know why the warlords haven't come after us yet."
"Why is that?" Sailor Mars asked. Shou glanced back at them.
"They have their hands full with Goku and the rest."
Sailor Pluto blinked. "How do you know that?"
"Well," Shou said calmly, stepping away from the hole. "Vegeta's being thrown this way."
Everyone let out a little yell and ducked as Vegeta went hurtling over their heads into the wall behind them.
Seiji shot a look at his friend. "You mind giving a little more warning before doing that?"
Shou blinked. "What?"
Sailor Pluto turned and helped Vegeta up. He stood and shook his head. "Are you alright? I know you lost the battle..."
Sailor Pluto nodded. "We'll be fine. Do you all need help?"
Vegeta grinned. "The more, the merrier."
Sailor Pluto grinned as well, and stepped up to the hole. "Dead Scream," she whispered, sending a huge blast at the warlords' backs.
The only one to avoid it was Sekhmet, who happened to catch it out of the corner of his eye and jumped in time to avoid it. He turned and snarled at the Sailor Senshi.
"You'll pay for that."
Jupiter ran and leapt our of the hole. "I doubt that. Sparkling Wide Pressure!" she yelled. She attacked missed by only inches, but she wasn't done yet.
"Supreme Thunder!"
This attack was right on target. Sekhmet went down. Jupiter turned to face the others who had, by now, come out into the open.
"That was just too easy-"
The hilt of a sword was brought down on Jupiter's back, making her crumple to the ground.
Kale laughed as he stood over the fallen Senshi.
Sailor Chibimoon grit her teeth. "Pink Sugar Heart Attack!" she yelled. Nothing happened. Sailor Chibimoon's eyes went wide and she developed a teardrop as she fiddled with her wand.
"Pink Sugar Heart Attack? Pink Sugar Heart Attack…um…" she flushed. "Pink Sugar Heart Attack."
All at once, the little pink hearts came streaming out of the wand. The surprised Chibimoon quickly turned it on Kale, who covered his face cursing.
"Sailor Moon Kick!" And Kale was flat on his back, out cold.
Dais now loomed above them, still rather weak from his fight with Rubbeus. Sailor Uranus gathered her strength.
"World Shaking!"
Dais lost his footing and fell hard. Never one to give up, however, he got to his feet again only to be greeted by
"Venus Love-Me Chain!"
This time he had the sense to stay down. Avery grit her teeth. "I'll deal with you squirts myself!" Avery cracked her whip a couple of times and Sailors Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto all shuddered and fell to the ground. Mars had had about enough of this.
"Akuryo Taisan!" She yelled, hitting Avery dead center in the face. Avery's eyes went wide as she became frozen. Mars grinned.
"Burning Mandala!" she yelled, cutting Avery with the fiery rings. Katzie's face flushed. "Why you-"
Mars wasted no time. "Chill out, Katzie! Akuryo Taisan!"
Katzie too was frozen. Bertie and Prizma both leapt at the fallen senshi simultaneously but a well-placed "Akuryo Taisan" stopped them dead in their tracks. Mars turned back to the one who had felled her companions.
"Now you're going down. Fire Soul!"
Avery was badly burned, and fell to her knees weakly. Mars' eyes narrowed. "Mars. Flame Sniper!"
Sailor Mercury watched as the arrow of flame sped towards it's target. Then she watched as if in slow motion Rubbeus appear and look at Avery, then at the arrow. Then she watched in growing horror as he covered Avery's body with his own. Then time speed up to its normal pace and the arrow hit, charring Rubbeus' back. He cried out in pain and doubled over Avery, shuddering. Sailor Mar's eyes went wide and she gasped as she realized what had happened. Avery opened her eyes slowly and managed to wrap her arms around Rubbeus' nearly lifeless body.
Sailor Mercury looked from her Senshi companions to Rubbeus and back. Upon seeing the stupefied expressions on all their faces she ran to Rubbeus and helped him off of Avery. She looked into his face and activated her goggles. She readings she was getting from him were not good. Touma ran up to her.
"Ami-chan?"
"Touma, we need to help him."
"After all he's done to us? After all he's put us through?"
"Yes," Sailor Mercury said softly. "Because we're Sailor Senshi and Ronin Warriors. We do what is right no matter who needs the help."
Touma looked into her blue eyes with his own for a moment then turned to his companions. "We've got to help!"
The rest of the Senshi and Ronins snapped out of their daze and ran up to them. Avery looked up at all of them, tears in her eyes.
"Please," she whispered hoarsely. "Help him…"
Sailor Mercury smiled reassuringly. "He'll be alright."
She grabbed the edge of her fuku and summoned her strength to rip it. She tore off shreds of fabric until nothing was left of her skirt. She began tying the fabric around the various burn wounds on Rubbeus. She reached back to her pile of fabric and was surprised to come off with an aqua piece in her hand. She looked back at the pile and saw that many of the senshi had donated shreds of their fukus to the pile as well. She smiled up at them and set to work binding Rubbeus' wounds. When she was finished, she stood and stepped back.
"I've done all I can. It's all up to Sailor Moon now."
The fukuless Sailor Moon nodded and extracted the Ginzuishou from her brooch. Sailor Neptune gasped. "Sailor Moon, if you use the Ginzuishou, you'll die!"
Sailor Uranus grit her teeth. "I won't let her die."
Sailor Moon smiled. "Don't worry about me, guys. I'll be fine."
With that she activated the Ginzuishou. Rubbeus' wounds slowly began to heal. Sailor Mercury activated her visor in order to keep tabs on the process. So far so good.
Sailor Jupiter looked up at the other warlords and sisters walked up. There were tears in Bertie's eyes. She mouthed Thank you at the Senshi, who smiled, now confidant they were doing the right thing.
Sailor Mercury's gaze shifted from her readings to Kale for a moment. She was pleased to see him smiling kindly. He nodded ever so slightly his thanks to them. Sailor Mercury returned the favor before her gaze shifted back to the readings. She startled.
"No!" she yelled. "Sailor Moon, you can't!"
"Can't what??" Tuxedo Kamen said sharply. Sailor Mercury turned to him.
"Sailor Moon is donating her own power to the Ginzuishou to heal Rubbeus! We have to stop her, or she will die!"
A question came from an unlikely source. "Is there anything we can do to keep that from happening without stopping her?"
Sailor Mercury stared at Kale in amazement. But she managed to answer. "If more power could be lent, then Sailor Moon might not have to expend so much of hers."
The Sailor Senshi nodded and immediately lined up, holding hands. The Ronins joined them, and then the Earth's special Forces. Sailor Mercury studied her readings and shook her head. "We're not enough! Rubbeus' wounds are too extensive!"
She gasped as her free hand was taken by a large gauntleted one. She looked up to see Kale kneeling beside her, his sole attention focused on Sailor Moon. She smiled as the other sisters and Warlords joined them until they formed a human chain around her.
Sailor Mercury once again studied her readings. She smiled. "It's working… it's working!"
She started to feel light-headed, realizing that her illness made her especially susceptible to collapse as she was using her energy to help heal Rubbeus.
And she wasn't the only one. She saw Piccolo across from her began to double over from lack of energy. Sailor Jupiter was all but unconscious.
But Rubbeus was almost healed. He was now staring in amazement at Sailor Moon and everyone surrounding them both even as his last wounds healed. Finally, the task was complete and Sailor Moon deactivated the Ginzuishou and collapsed to the ground. The human chain broke apart as everyone sat back and tried to conserve their strength. Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Chibimoon managed to crawl out to Sailor Moon to try and awaken her. Rubbeus ran over to Avery, and looked into her eyes. She smiled weakly.
"You're going to be fine…I know it."
Rubbeus smiled a bit, tears coming to his eyes. Then he looked up and saw that one of those most spent by the ordeal was none other than Dais, who, like Sailor Moon, was out cold. Bertie was trying desperately to wake him. Bertie's eyes met his for a moment, and then Rubbeus began to truly understand this concept of friendship. And here he had thought Dais despised him. The feeling had been mutual.
Maybe not anymore.
Then again, Dais may just pretend like this had never happened and they'll get in fights just as bad as before, if not worse.
Rubbeus grinned a bit. He'd make it a point to remind Dais of this event if he conveniently forgot it.
Sailor Mercury struggled to stand. She looked to Rubbeus. "Rubbeus…you're well?"
Rubbeus nodded. "Yes."
"Then there's two things I ask you do for us and we will be called even."
Rubeus blinked, but nodded. Sailor Mercury went on. "One, you let us go without any more conflict. Two, you relinquish your hold over A-ko."
Rubbeus sighed. Dammit, he knew he'd regret this. But those Senshi HAD saved his life when they could have left him for dead. He owed them everything.
He sighed and mentally activated the computer in the conversion room to shut down. He turned to Sailor Mercury. "Done and done. We are even, now."
He created a warphole before them. "Now go before I change my mind." Sailor Mercury smiled at Rubbeus, who scowled to cover his embarrassment. The entire party dragged themselves out of the Dynasty. Rubbeus turned to those Warlords still standing.
"C'mon. Lets get you all to Sick Bay."
